The present invention relates to novel varieties of New Guinea impatiens plants, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and methods for reproducing the same. More particularly the invention relates to New Guinea impatiens plants having a flower with a novel, random, multi-colored pattern. The invention also relates to novel New Guinea impatiens plants that produce multiple sports off a single seedling. The invention further relates to novel New Guinea impatiens plants that have multiple flowers off multiple pedicels of a single peduncle.
Impatiens plants are one of the most popular garden plants due to their versatility. Sales of impatiens varieties are currently estimated at 250 million dollars per year. They are favorites for beds, borders, pots and hanging baskets. Impatiens require relatively little maintenance. And they have a relatively long blooming season, generally ranging through summer and fall. When impatiens plants drop their faded flowers, new flowers come to replace the ones dropped. This is not the case for other flowering plants such as Geraniums.
Impatiens are available as single or double flowering plants. But not all single flowering varieties are available as doubles. Generally the double flowering varieties are sterile and do not produce seeds. Because of this, double flower forms are propagated asexually.
The three commercially significant species of impatiens are hawkeri, more commonly known as xe2x80x9cNew Guineaxe2x80x9d, walleriana, and balsamina. The hawkeri species does not cross with the walleriana species. Nor is it believed to cross with balsamina. Although walleriana impatiens plants generally are more stable and vigorous than New Guinea impatiens, walleriana flowers are smaller and less bright than New Guinea impatiens flowers. In addition to having larger, brighter flowers, New Guinea plants are larger and hold their petals longer. Because the New Guinea varieties do not interbreed with the walleriana varieties, it is not possible through normal breeding practices to transfer desirable flower characteristics and other genetic characteristics between hawkeri and walleriana varieties. For example, there is one variety of walleriana with flowers speckled with two or more color patterns marketed by Ball Seed Company of West Chicago, Ill., for example, under the names Mosaic Lilac and Mosaic Rose. See Ball Seed Company Catalog, 1998-99, p.31. Such a variety is not known in the New Guinea impatiens species.
The lucrative market for impatiens plants is not content with existing varieties of New Guinea impatiens. New Guinea impatiens plants were introduced for commercialization only relatively recently, in about 1972. See D. A. Bailey, Commercial Production of New Guinea Impatiens, Horticulture Leaflet 526, rev""d April 1995-Author Reviewed April 1997, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina State University. Accordingly, there is still substantial demand for additional aesthetic varieties. Gardeners are continually looking for a wider range of aesthetic options to stand alone or complement other aspects of their gardens. Unfortunately, existing varieties of New Guinea impatiens have not been well developed due to the species relatively recent commercial introduction. Consequently, among other things, they offer relatively little choice beyond solid color flowers and bicolor flowers in a relatively small range of fixed color patterns.
The flower coloration of currently available commercial New Guinea impatiens cultivars encompasses three basic configurations. These are solid colored flowers without an eye, as in Electra Hot White, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,259 to Cosner; solid colors with an eye of another color, as in Electra Royale, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,300 to Cosner; and star patterns, as in Lasting Impressions Ambiance, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,903, assigned to Oglevee Ltd.
Referring to FIG. 1 of this specification, four examples of the conventional New Guinea impatiens flower types are shown, along with a novel flower according to the present invention (center flower). The flower on the far left is a conventional solid colored flower named xe2x80x98Jolanaxe2x80x99 with a slightly pronounced eye. To the immediate right of xe2x80x98Jolanaxe2x80x99, is a conventional solid colored flower named xe2x80x98Electra Royalexe2x80x99 with a more pronounced eye. As mentioned, the center flower to the right of xe2x80x98Electra Royalexe2x80x99 is one example of a novel flower of the present invention that is named xe2x80x98ElRedxe2x80x99. This flower is shown to demonstrate some novel features of the present invention relative to the conventional varieties shown. This novel flower and others are described in more detail below. To the immediate right of xe2x80x98ElRedxe2x80x99 is a conventional bright-eye type flower named xe2x80x98Woyaxe2x80x99 with a pronounced eye. The flower on the far right, next to xe2x80x98Woyaxe2x80x99, is a conventional star type flower named xe2x80x98Ambiancexe2x80x99. Each of the foregoing conventional flowers are commercially available from different distributors.
Plant breeders face a persisting challenge of producing a series of a plant that can be potted or bedded together to create a grouping of plants that look and grow the same but which can produce a variety of flower effects. This creates a desirable and commercially-important aesthetic effect. The challenge in achieving such an effect persists because plants with different flower colors and patterns normally are produced by plants with different genetic backgrounds. While it may be possible to select plants with different genetic backgrounds that appear to have similar growth habits in a controlled green house environment, the growth habits of the plants may be quite different when introduced into the environment provided by the end user. The differences may cause the potted or bedded plants to vary in size, shape, flowering time etc., creating unacceptable aesthetic effects. Accordingly there is a need for breeding stock that can produce different flower colors and patterns but which grow and resemble each other in all other respects.
In practice, to overcome the drawbacks of using plants with different genetic backgrounds to form a series, breeders have looked for plants showing two more sports (hereinafter xe2x80x9cmultiple sportsxe2x80x9d). In the context of this discussion, a sport is a portion of a plant having different colors or color patterns than the color and color patterns of other flowers on the same plant. Plants producing two or more sports are commercially advantageous because plants propagated from each sport type will have the identical growth habits. Each sport type may be asexually reproduced and sold together as a series.
X-rays or chemical mutagens have been typically used to induce multiple sports off a single seedling. This process is unpredictable and has a low yield. Moreover, it is expensive, inconvenient, and inherently dangerous to use x-ray labs or chemical mutagens to induce the sports. A simpler, less expensive, safer, and more predictable process of producing asexually reproducible sports off a single seedling would be desirable and advantageous.
Conventional New Guinea impatiens plants also suffer the drawback of blossoming only a single flower per peduncle. Some New Guinea impatiens cultivars may have two or more peduncles fused at their bases. Examples of such plants include the commercial varieties Celebration xe2x80x98Purple Starxe2x80x99, Ball Flora Plant, West Chicago, Ill. and xe2x80x98Bonairexe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,137) Paul Ecke Ranch, Encinitas, Calif. The flowers produced from fused peduncles suffers the problem of holding the flowers too tightly to the foliage, making the inflorescence less dramatic. In some non-New Guinea plant species the inflorescence is more dramatic because the peduncle produces multiple pedicels, each of which produces a single flower held above the foliage by the pedicels. For example, the walleriana impatiens species has varieties that produce multiple pedicels from a single peduncle. The flowers of the plant are held above the foliage. A plant with two pedicels per peduncle doubles the number of flowers per plant. A plant with three pedicels per peduncle has triple the number of flowers per plant. Plant varieties with multiple pedicels are desirable because the increased number of flowers per plant creates a more dramatic inflorescence. This makes varieties with multiple flower producing pedicels commercially advantageous. Unfortunately, New Guinea impatiens plants with multiple pedicels have not yet been successfully bred for commercialization.
The present invention provides stable aesthetically exciting new varieties of New Guinea impatiens plants that overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art. The novel plants display flowers with a blend of two or more colors in irregularly shaped random patterns, creating a xe2x80x9ctie-dyexe2x80x9d or marbled effect. One of the most apparent advantages of the present invention is an always-changing color pattern wherever it is usedxe2x80x94whether it is in hanging baskets, other types of containers, or in ground bedsxe2x80x94the always-changing color pattern of the novel tie-dye impatiens makes the landscape come alive.
Its uniqueness will complement virtually all other New Guinea impatiens cultivars without the colors clashing. When these novel plants are crossed with themselves or other New Guinea impatiens plants, including conventional and other tie-dye plants, some seedlings have flowers with the tie-dye effect, and other seedlings have conventional flowers. When the plants having conventional flowers are reproduced sexually, seedlings with a relatively high frequency of sports are produced. The different branches may then be asexually reproduced to create a series of plants that produce flowers of different colors or patterns but which have identical growth habits.
The present invention also provides novel New Guinea impatiens that have multiple pedicels, which increases the flower count per plant, making the plants more lively and colorful.
The present invention can be expressed in terms of various embodiments reflecting distinct new varieties of New Guinea impatiens plant. In a most basic embodiment, the variety is of a New Guinea impatiens plant having at least one flower characterized by a marbling effect in at least two or more petals of the flower, said plant being asexually reproducible into other plants showing at least one flower with a similar marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a plant having at least one flower with at least three petals with the marbling effect. The present invention further contemplates a plant wherein about 30% or more of the flowers in the plant have some petals with the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein predominantly all flowers of the plant have some petals with the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein predominantly all flowers of the plant have predominantly all petals with the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein at least one flower has predominantly all petals with a marbling effect of three or more colors.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein about 30% or more of the flowers in the plant have some petals with a marbling effect of three or more colors.
The present invention also contemplates a plant that includes at least two sports.
The present invention also contemplates a plant that includes at least three sports.
The present invention also contemplates a method of producing a New Guinea impatiens plant comprising:
(a) crossing a New Guinea impatiens plant cultivar having marbling in its background with a different or same New Guinea Impatiens plant cultivar having marbling in its background;
(b) selecting progeny that show some degree of marbling in at least one flower petal; and
(c) repeating steps (a) to (b) until a plant is produced having at least one flower characterized by a marbling effect in at least two or more petals of the flower, said plant being asexually reproducible into other plants showing at least one flower with a similar marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates that in this method, steps (a) to (b) may be repeated until the produced plant has a flower with at least three petals with a marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method, the steps may be repeated until predominantly all petals in at least one flower of the produced plant have the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method, the steps may be repeated until about 30% or more of the flowers in the produced plant have some petals with the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method, the steps may be repeated until predominantly all flowers of the produced plant have the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method, the steps may be repeated until the marbling effect is of three or more colors.
The present invention further contemplates that in the method, the steps may be repeated until a plant is produced wherein predominantly all flowers have predominantly all petals with the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein a selected plant may be backcrossed to a parent.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein the plant selected in step (b) has a higher degree of marbling than either parent plant.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein during any initial or repeat cross of step (a), the initial plant or selected plant from step (b) may have at least one flower with predominantly all petals with the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein at least one of the plants crossed in step (a) may have about 30% or more of its flowers with predominantly all petals having a marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein at least one of the plants crossed in step (a) may have predominantly all flowers with predominantly all petals having a marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein both plants crossed in step (a) may each have about 30% or more flowers with predominantly all petals having a marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein a selected plant may be backcrossed to itself.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein a selected plant may be backcrossed to other selected plants.
The present invention also contemplates a method wherein one of the plants having marbling in its background used in the initial cross of step (a) may have two or more flowers with predominantly all petals displaying marbling.
The present invention also contemplates a method for producing a New Guinea impatiens plant comprising:
selecting a first New Guinea impatiens plant cultivar having a predetermined degree of marbling, the first plant being asexually reproducible into other plants having a similar degree of marbling;
selecting a second predetermined New Guinea Impatiens plant cultivar;
crossing the first and second plants;
selecting progeny that show a suitable degree of marbling;
repeating the steps as necessary to produce a plant with a desired degree of marbling; and
asexually propagating progeny showing the desired characteristic.
The present invention also contemplates that in the preceding method, one of the New Guinea impatiens plant cultivars for the cross may have two or more flowers with at least two or more petals having marbling.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method, the second New Guinea impatiens plant may comprise a plant having flowers predominantly all of which are of a conventional type.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method, the second plant may have flowers predominantly all of which have a marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method, both of the New Guinea impatiens plants for the cross may have predominantly all flowers with the marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a method, for producing a New Guinea impatiens plant that has multiple sports comprising:
selecting a first New Guinea impatiens plant cultivar having a predetermined degree of marbling, the first plant being asexually reproducible into other plants having a similar degree of marbling;
selecting a second predetermined New Guinea Impatiens plant cultivar;
crossing the first and second plants;
selecting progeny that show at least two sports;
repeating the steps as necessary to produce a plant with at least two sports; and
asexually propagating one or more sports from a selected plant.
The present invention also contemplates that in the preceding method, the progeny showing at least three sports per plant may be selected and asexually propagated.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method for producing multiple sports, progeny showing at least four sports per plant may be selected for asexual propagation.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method for producing multiple sports, at least one of the plants crossed may have about 30% or more of its flowers with predominantly all petals displaying a marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method for producing multiple sports, at least one of the plants crossed in step (a) may have about 30% or more of its flowers with predominantly all petals displaying a conventional flower type.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method for producing multiple sports, the second plant may comprise a plant having flowers predominantly all of which are of a conventional flower type.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method for producing multiple sports, the first plant may comprise a plant having flowers predominantly all of which have a marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates a New Guinea impatiens plant having at least two flowerable pedicels arising from at least one peduncle on at least one branch of the plant, said plant being asexually reproducible into a plant having about the same degree of pediceling.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein at least one peduncle has at least three pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein at least one branch on the plant has at least two peduncles, each giving rise to multiple pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein at least two branches on the plant each have at least one peduncle giving rise to multiple pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates a plant with multiple pedicels wherein the plant includes a predetermined degree of marbling in its background.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein two or more branches on the plant each have at least one peduncle giving rise to multiple pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates a plant wherein two or more branches on the plant further include two or more peduncles on a single branch, each giving rise to multiple peduncles.
The present invention also contemplates a method of producing a New Guinea impatiens plant comprising:
(a) crossing a New Guinea impatiens plant having multiple pediceling in its background with a different or same New Guinea impatiens plant having multiple pediceling in its background;
(b) selecting progeny that show some degree of multiple pediceling in at least one or more peduncles on a branch; and
(c) repeating steps (a) to (b) as necessary until a plant is produced having at least two flowerable pedicels arising from at least one peduncle on at least one branch of the plant, said plant being asexually reproducible into another plant having about the same degree of pediceling as its parent.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, steps (a) to (b) may be repeated as necessary until the produced plant has at least one peduncle with at least three pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, steps (a) to (b) may be repeated as necessary until the produced plant has at least one branch with at least two peduncles each giving rise to multiple pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, the steps may be repeated as necessary until at least two branches on the plant each have at least one peduncle giving rise to multiple pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, at least one of the parents in the initial cross may have marbling in its background.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, the plant selected in step (b) may have a higher degree of pediceling than either parent plant.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, during any initial or repeat cross of step (a), the initial plant or selected plant from step (b) may produce about 30% or more of its flowers with a marbling effect.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, a selected plant may be backcrossed to itself in one or more crosses of the method.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, a selected plant may be backcrossed to other selected plants in one or more crosses of the method.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, a selected plant may be backcrossed to one of its parents in one or more crosses of the method.
The present invention also contemplates that in the method of producing a plant with multiple pediceling, the steps may be repeated until about 30% or more of the branches in the produced plant each have at least one peduncle with multiple flowerable pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates a novel New Guinea impatiens plant having at least two branches each with at least one peduncle, said plant having marbling in its background, said plant being asexually reproducible into other plants showing at least two branches each having at least one peduncle with multiple pedicels.
The present invention also contemplates a plant having multiple pediceling with at least two sports.
The present invention also contemplates a plant having multiple pediceling with at least three sports.
The present invention also contemplates a plant having multiple pediceling wherein the plant displays flowers predominantly, all of which are of a conventional type.
The present invention also contemplates a plant having multiple pediceling wherein the plant displays flowers predominantly, all of which have marbling.
The present invention also contemplates a double New Guinea impatiens plant having marbling, multiple pediceling and/or multiple sports of the same degree as single New Guinea impatiens plants.
The present invention also contemplates a method of producing a novel New Guinea impatiens wherein a plant with a predetermined degree of multiple pediceling, and which is asexually reproducible into other plants with about the same degree of pediceling, is crossed with a plant not having multiple pediceling to produce progeny having multiple pediceling and desired characteristics of the plant without multiple pediceling.